Book manuscript submitted (December 2012)

On December 2nd 2012 Ragnhild Sollund, Guri Larsen and I submitted the full manuscript of the Norwegian Human-Animal Studies anthology Hvem er villest i landet her? Råskap mot dyr og natur i antropocen, menneskets tidsalder [Who is wildest in this country here? Brutality towards animals and nature in the Anthropocene, the age of Man] to Spartacus forlag/Scandinavian Academic Press. 

The book was published on May 15th 2013.

[This is part of my catch-up blogging]

Contracted as co-Editor-in-Chief of Biosemiotics

In the end of June I was offered the position as co-Editor-in-Chief of the academic journal Biosemiotics, along with Timo Maran (co-Editor-in-Chief) and Alexei Sharov (lead Editor-in-Chief) - and accepted. I think this is a good solution for the journal - an arrangement I am very comfortable with. I am honored to be part of the team that will take the journal forward.

My contract with Springer Science+Business Media, the world's second-biggest academic journal publisher, with validity from July 1st 2013 to June 30th 2018, was signed on June 25th and completed on June 27th.

See also:

Biosemiotics achieves ISI acceptance and indexing

Suggested as Editor-in-Chief of Biosemiotics; input on the field given

My vision for the journal Biosemiotics

Festschrift to Kalevi Kull presented at 12th gathering in biosemiotics

Around 18 o'clock on Tuesday July 17th, at the end of the first session of the 12th gathering in biosemiotics, in Tartu, Estonia, Timo Maran, Kati Lindström, Riin Magnus and I presented the book Semiotics in the Wild: Essays in Honour of Kalevi Kull on the Occasion of His 60th Birthday to Kalevi and the public at large (with perhaps 70-80 people present).

The four of us are the editors of this volume, which features 20 short contributions written by biosemioticians, an introduction, and a bibliography of Kalevi Kull's scientific publications in English (1977-2012, and counting). The book is published by Tartu University Press.

Book proposal submitted

We (Kadri Tüür and I) have just submitted the book proposal for The Semiotics of Animal Representations. After formatting we're talking about 8 (proposal) + 6 (Authors' and editors' info sheet) + 23 (Abstract book) pp; all in all 37 pp.

Semiotics of Perception - issue, offprints received

A few days ago I received the special issue of Biosemiotics Semiotics of Perception, for which I am a guest editor along with Kati Lindström, in the mail.

And today I received the offprints of my single-authored articles in that issue, "Wolf land" and "Steps to a semiotics of being". The latter in particular means a lot to me.

Biosemiotics special issue paginated

The special issue of Biosemiotics "Semiotics of perception" (= Biosemiotics 3.3) is very soon to appear in print, and has now been paginated. Subscribers (individual as well as institutional) can now access the articles in paginated form online - and until November 30th non-subscribers can get trial free access. Altogether the 10 contributions of the special volume has been paginated as pp. 257-392 of volume 3 (136 pages).

Contents:

257-261 Kati LINDSTRÖM and Morten TØNNESSEN: Introduction to the Special Issue Semiotics of Perception: Being in the World of the Living - Semiotic Perspectives

263-275 David ABRAM: The Discourse of the Birds

277-287 Wendy WHEELER: Delectable Creatures and the Fundamental Reality of Metaphor: Biosemiotics and Animal Mind

289-297 Morten TØNNESSEN: Wolf Land

299-313 Renata SÕUKAND and Raivo KALLE: Plant as Object within Herbal Landscape: Different Kinds of Perception

315-329 Timo MARAN: Why Was Thomas A. Sebeok Not a Cognitive Ethologist? From "Animal Mind" to "Semiotic Self"

331-345 Ane FAUGSTAD AARØ: Merleau-Ponty's Concept of Nature and the Ontology of Flesh

347-357 Kalevi KULL: Ecosystems are Made of Semiosic Bonds: Consortia, Umwelten, Biophony and Ecological Codes

359-373 Kati LINDSTRÖM: Autocommunication and Perceptual Markers in Landscape: Japanese Examples

375-393 Morten TØNNESSEN: Steps to a Semiotics of Being

In this issue I have co-edited 136 pages, written 27 pages on my own and co-written 5 pages (altogether taken part in the writing of 32 pages).

Rodopi volume: Timeline; contents revision

Today I've agreed, in communication with fellow editor Kadri Tüür, on a tiny revision of the list of contributors to be invited (one person added) to our planned volume The Semiotics of Animal Representations (cf. previous posts). Invitations will appear in the acceptance letter to the conference Zoosemiotics and Animal Representations. The estimated length as for now is 240 pages, counting 15 chapters plus introduction.

We've also agreed on a timeline, or schedule, for our editorial work, with tasks and deadlines organized in 15 points. We expect to submit the formal book proposal at some point in December. Full-length papers should be submitted by May 31st, 2011, and revised, final papers by September 30th, 2011. Expected completion of the manuscript (after a round or two of proof-reading) is preliminary set to January 15th, 2012. We expect to submit the formal book proposal at some point in December. The whole process will last up to 2 years.

Norwegian human-animal relations anthology in progress

Cf. previous notes about this book project, with Guri Larsen, Ragnhild Sollund and myself as prospective editors (idea conceived of after criminology seminar - see also Academic news in brief IX pt. 4).

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We are still discussing the work title, but have agreed on most other features. These days we start inviting contributors (the collection - which will be in Norwegian - is invitation-only).

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In the process we have developed a 1p invitation letter, a 2p book project description, and a highly secret 3p 'innholdsdisposisjon' with drafts of contents.

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Excerpts of the book project description:

Forholdet mellom mennesker og dyr er sentralt for forståelsen av såvel kultur som natur – og ikke minst for forståelsen av vår tids eskalerende miljøkrise. Det er et tema som på grunn av sine etiske dimensjoner er gjenstand for økende interesse og debatt – også i Norge, som i denne sammenhengen har kommet ganske kort i den intellektuelle diskursen. Etiske spørsmål i forlengelsen av menneskets bruk av natur og dyr har fått økt økt interesse de siste årene, både innen ulike fag og i den offentlige debatt. Likevel er gjensidig avhengighet mellom miljø, dyr og mennesker lite belyst. Arten mennesket og andre arter er ikke bare beslektet, men er i dagens samfunn gjensidig avhengig av hverandre på en historisk unik måte. Mens det på den ene siden er et trivielt faktum at mennesket bare kan overleve som del av en større natur, har vi særlig de siste århundrene også gjort utallige dyrearter stadig mer avhengige av oss. Det moderne mennesket har innarbeidet en instrumentell (nytteorientert) tilnærming til andre dyr. Dyr utnyttes i dag på utallige måter: til mat, sko og klær, i underholdning, som arbeidsdyr, forsøksdyr, kjæledyr og så videre. Først de siste par generasjonene har det i vår kultur blitt vanlig å snakke om at dyr kan ha egenverdi uavhengig av nytteverdi. Dagens offisielle politikk for vern av biologisk mangfold sliter med eldgamle forestillinger om et nødvendig fiendskap mellom bonde-/menneskesamfunnet og utemmet natur. Så dypt sitter dette natursynet at vernetilhengere og dyrevernere av mange automatisk slås i hardtkorn med menneskefiender.